Being Pretty And Smart Is Not Fair

You can't be pretty and be smart so the progressive new meme goes.

 From Reason in link (good comments to go along with it):

• [Campbell Brown] is a good media figure because of her looks, but she doesn’t seem to know or understand anything about teaching and why tenure matters," education activist and historian Diane Ravitch told The Washington Post. "I know it sounds sexist to say that she is pretty, but that makes her telegenic, even if what she has to say is total nonsense.”
• "[Campbell Brown] and her wealthy supporters seem to think that if teachers could be fired for any reason at any time, student achievement in high-poverty schools would miraculously soar," union leader Karen Magee writes, taking the utmost care not to hyperbolize or misrepresent the views of her opponents.
• "It’s a good thing when professionals can’t simply be fired on a boss’s whim," argues Salon's Gabriel Arana. The piece makes a tortured case (even by Salon standards) that the quality of a teacher doesn't affect student achievement all that much. And "figuring out who’s a good teacher is pretty difficult."

Ooo, ahh, the ad hominens come easily, huh?

It's not what she's saying at all. But leave to statists to go derp. If a teacher sucks fire their sorry ass just like in any job. My wife is a teacher and admits it's a problem in the profession. 

Matt Damon? Really? That was painful watching him try to talky-smartz. It was Justin Trudeau-like.

***

True story. Years ago in University a friend of ours handed a piece of paper with drawings on them that happened to depict me and a buddy. Basically, the person drew us as a couple of 'I-talian stallions.' I didn't take offense because if it was meant to be so, I just figured the guy was an asshole.

My memory of the details of this event are sketchy but the "artist" (who went by the nickname Gooch for some reason) happened to be gay. So he could have had a secret crush on us or he was plain mocking us. I tend to lean the latter because of an incident in another class I had with him.

The professor handed out our exams and I asked him how he did. He proudly showed a high mark - I forget what it was. Then the prof gave me mine and Gooch asked in-kind my grade. Not one to put too much stock into - well, anything - I showed him. His reaction was stunning as it was insulting.

"You, got a higher grade than me?" 

Right then and there I knew this was an arrogant, cocksucker. I don't remember what my vocal response was but I do recall privately smiling to myself with a 'fuck you dick." 

In the end, he was judging me on my looks just like those people attacking Campbell Brown. Nothing more. I didn't get into any debates with him nor do I recall being particularly vocal in any class so in hindsight, it was nothing more than an example of a person superficially judging a book by its cover.